TAMPA THEATER REVIEWS

Tampa Metropolitan Improv*'s debut was a sharp, high-energy triumph filled with quick wit, strong ensemble chemistry, and nonstop laughs. The cast delivered a tightly paced, joyfully unpredictable show that left the audience thoroughly entertained and eager for more—a bold and confident start for ...

Intense, frustrating, harrowing...and all based on true-life murders....

One-woman triumph. I was completely captivated by Samantha Marti Parisi’s beautiful portrayal of Molly Ivins in Red Hot Patriot. She didn’t just perform the role—she embodied it, delivering every line with razor-sharp wit and unmistakable heart....

Pup Play: A Queer Pseudo-Lecture (Of Sorts), the award-winning brain child of the immeasurably talented Noah Pantano, is maybe the fringiest Fringe play I’ve seen. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll bark like a dog!...

Fat Ham is a dramatic play, and a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. James IJames play received the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was nominated for 5 Tony Awards, including Best Play....

Everyone has a favorite Elton John song.  Ask anyone and they probably won’t even hesitate to tell you their selection:  Maybe “Tiny Dancer,” a song impossible not to sing along with in your own version of carpool karaoke? ...

Before seeing a stunning youth production of Hadestown at Corbett Prep’s Farish Speakeasy, I ran into a friend standing in line.  “Hadestown is my all-time favorite musical, “ she told me....

I had no idea what to expect, but Shucked was a golden ear of comedy, wrapped in clever writing, helmed by powerhouse vocals, and buttered with some of the funniest deadpanned quips you’ll hear on stage this season....

9 to 5: The Musical is a stage adaptation of the 1980 film of the same name, featuring music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. This outlandish musical comedy features a book by Patricia Resnick, and is based on the screenplay by Resnick and Colin Higgins....

Ever since watching the 1989 animated film, The LIttle Mermaid, I have always had a problem with the character of Ariel.  To me, she is the weakest of all Disney princesses.  In Beauty and the Beast, Belle is book smart and strong-willed, denying the advances of the good-looking Gaston. ...

The halls of Carrollwood did ring with laughter. It was a reminder that whether thou art noble or nerd, there’s always room for poetry—and proton packs....

A truly lover-ly production! I know certain Broadway aficionados point to it as the tops of the top, the pinnacle, the one where the musical theatre gods were shining during its creation....

Songs For A New World is a musical theater work often considered a song cycle with music and lyrics written and composed by Jason Robert Brown. Originally produced off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in 1995, this is Brown’s first produced work. Director of the 1995 premiere Daisy Prince said this abo...

The Butterfly’s Evil Spell was the first play written by twentieth-century playwright and poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Drawing much of its inspiration from the works of Yeats and Maeterlinck, the plot of Lorca’s play deals with the journey of an injured butterfly who is temporarily stranded among...

I thought everyone had heard of Evita, a show that I consider Andrew Lloyd Webber’s finest work.  But in the lobby of the Manatee Performing Arts Center, just before the Saturday night performance of Evita began, a middle-aged couple walked up to me....

In our tightknit theatre community, word of mouth matters most. Local shows live and breathe on it. Some shows can sell themselves—especially big musicals with falling chandeliers or anti-Nazi von Trapp singers....

Morningside is a smart, funny, and unexpectedly impactful piece, brought to vivid life by an incredible cast and direction that understands the delicate balance between laughter and truth....

Based on the 2005 British film of the same name, the musical features music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, and a book by Harvey Fierstein. Mostly inspired by true events, the musical tells the story of Charlie Price, a man who is down on his luck and has just inherited a failing shoe factory from his f...

Jamie Allan made me believe magic is real. For two hours on a Friday night, I escaped this crazy, hectic life, left adult reality behind and stepped back into the world of childhood make believe at Amaze at Straz with magician extraordinare Jamie Allan. ...

Back to the Future at the Straz wasn’t just a performance but a phenomenon. It was a collision of story, skill, and science fiction that made the impossible feel intimate....

“There are songs that come free from the blue-eyed grass, from the dust of a thousand country roads. This is one of them.” These are the first words stemming from the first line of the Foreword in Robert James Waller’s sweeping tale of love, passion, and the ability to see another, as if you h...

With book, music, and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, SIX is a modern retelling of the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII. The show is performed in a pop concert style, with each performer singing about their time with Henry and battling it out to see who suffered more, and can become the gro...

Visually stunning, vocally flawless, and emotionally resonant, it reminds us why this story continues to capture hearts across generations....

One character calls Jenna's pies 'Biblically good,' and you could say the same thing about the show....

Into the Woods is a Tony Award-winning 1986 Musical written by Stephen Sondheim (Music/Lyrics) and James Lapine (Book), marking their second collaboration following Sunday in the Park with George (1984). Into the Woods premiered in 1986 at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre and then was followed by a ...